# abdicate
## English
### Etymology

From Latin abdicātus (“renounced”), perfect passive participle of abdicō (“renounce, reject, disclaim”), formed from ab (“away”) + dicō (“proclaim, dedicate, declare”), akin to dīcō (“say”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈæb.dɪˌkeɪt/
* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Verb

abdicate (third-person singular simple present abdicates, present participle abdicating, simple past and past participle abdicated)
* (transitive, obsolete) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. [mid 16th – early 19th c.]
* (transitive, reflexive, obsolete) To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of. [mid 16th – late 17th c.]
* (transitive, obsolete) To depose. [early 17th – late 18th c.]
* (transitive, obsolete) To reject; to cast off; to discard. [mid 16th – late 17th c.]
** 1647 June 8 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Hall, “Bishop Hall’s Hard Measure”, in The Shaking of the Olive-Tree. The Remaining Works of that Incomparable Prelate Joseph Hall, D.D. […], London: […] J. Cadwel for J[ohn] Crooke, […], published 1660, →OCLC, page 48:[W]e were legally call'd by his Majeſties writ to give our Attendance in Parliament, […] if we did not, we ſhould betray the Truſt committed to us by his Majeſtie, and ſhamefully betray and abdicate the due right both of our ſelves and Succeſſours.
* (transitive) To surrender, renounce or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; to fail to fulfill responsibility for. [from mid 17th c.]
    to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy
    Note: The word abdicate was held to mean, in the case of James II, to abandon without a formal surrender.
** 1776–1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:The cross-bearers abdicated their service.
** 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:He abdicates all right to be his own governor.
** 1856, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth:The understanding abdicates its functions.
** 2022, Janet Loveless, Mischa Allen, Caroline Derry, chapter 12, in Complete Criminal Law, 8th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, 12.2.5, page 649:Although the 1970s ushered in a culture of relative moral freedom, the courts refused to abdicate their role of custodians of public morality.
* (intransitive) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty. [First attested in the early 18th c.]
** 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.

#### Synonyms

* abandon
* abjure
* cast aside
* cast off
* cede
* desert
* disinherit
* disown
* forego
* forsake
* give up
* quit
* refuse
* reject
* relent
* relinquish
* renounce
* repudiate
* resign
* retire
* stand down
* surrender
* vacate
* waive
* yield

#### Antonyms

* claim
* grasp
* maintain
* occupy
* retain
* seize
* usurp

#### Derived terms

* abdicable
* abdicant
* abdication
* abdicative
* abdicator
* unabdicate

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* “abdicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

## Italian
### Verb

abdicate
* inflection of abdicare:
** second-person plural present indicative
** second-person plural imperative

## Latin
### Verb

abdicāte
* second-person plural present active imperative of abdicō

## Spanish
### Verb

abdicate
* second-person singular voseo imperative of abdicar combined with te